Latest Papers

ASME Journal of Mechanisms and Robotics

  • A Small-Scale Integrated Jumping-Crawling Robot: Design, Modeling, and Demonstration
    on June 16, 2025 at 12:00 am

    AbstractThe small jumping-crawling robot improves its obstacle-crossing ability by selecting appropriate locomotion methods. However, current research on jumping-crawling robots remains focused on enhancing specific aspects of performance, and several issues still exist, including nonadjustable gaits, poor stability, nonadjustable jumping posture, and poor motion continuity. This article presents a small jumping-crawling robot with decoupled jumping and crawling mechanisms, offline adjustable gaits, autonomous self-righting, autonomous steering, and certain slope-climbing abilities. The crawling mechanism adopts a partially adjustable Klann six-bar linkage, which can generate four stride lengths and three gaits. The jumping mechanism is designed as a six-bar linkage with passive compliance, and an active clutch allows energy storage and release in any state. The autonomous self-righting mechanism enables the robot to self-right after tipping over, meanwhile providing support, steering, and posture adjustment functions. Prototype experiments show that the designed robot demonstrates good motion stability and can climb a 45 deg slope without tipping over. The robot shows excellent steering performance, with a single action taking 5 s and achieving a steering angle of 11.5 deg. It also exhibits good motion continuity, with an average recovery time of 12 s to return to crawling mode after a jump. Crawling experiments on rough terrain demonstrate the feasibility of applying the designed robot in real-world scenarios.

Computation of the Available Force Set of a 3- RP RR Kinematically Redundant Planar Parallel Manipulator

Abstract

An algorithm is developed to determine the available force set (AFS) of the 3-RPRR kinematically redundant planar parallel manipulator. The results of the algorithm are verified against a brute force approach and are found to yield exact results with significantly less computational time. The use of the AFS in a robot design context is illustrated through the analysis of two performance indices: the maximum pure force capable of being applied in any direction and the maximum pure force capable of being applied in a given direction. The algorithm is used to compute the AFS and the performance indices throughout the 3-RPRR robot’s workspace. The proposed methodology is a useful tool for the design and analysis of the 3-RPRR robot and could be adapted to other kinematically redundant planar parallel manipulators.
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